n the South-West or
South-East, which have a close resemblance to one another, in their
bare, barren, treeless, and dreary character. I saw some parts which
were really beautiful. One day we drove for several miles through quite
lovely scenery. In passing along the road I was forcibly reminded of the
road between Braemar and Mar Lodge, in Aberdeenshire, which it strongly
resembles. The road runs on the side of the hill, sloping down to the
rivulet at the bottom, exactly like the river Dee, and the Rooiburg, or
red tinted, Mountain, exactly resembles the heather on the Scottish
hills. It is altogether a charming spot, and a perfect picture of fine
scenery. There is a large quantity of excellent and valuable timber in
this district, as well as abundant evidence of mineral-bearing quartz. I
believe that, some day, other Johannesburgs are destined to rise in the
Northern part of the Transvaal, rivalling, or perhaps even eclipsing,
the treasures already discovered in the Randt.

At the spot I have described, which is called Hartebeestepoort, not far
from the banks of the Zand River, where there is a good quantity of
excellent and valuable timber, there was quite a romantic scene one
night. We were discussing, as usual, our evening meal round our camp
fire. It was starlight, but otherwise we were in total darkness. In
addition to ourselves, there were nine Kafirs, making a party of a dozen
altogether. It was an intensely interesting and remarkable scene to me,
to find myself surrounded by these wild fellows in perfectly friendly
fashion, in the midst of the vast veldt, the silence and stillness only
broken every now and then by the cry of the jackals howling in the
distance. On leaving here we travelled north towards Grouthoek, which
is situated in the midst of the Rhynoster range of mountains, being
drawn by oxen, our horses following us, in order to give them rest, and
so keep them fresher.

I was disappointed at the small quantity of game we found on our
journey. We occasionally shot a springbok, and I thus had an opportunity
of making myself acquainted with the delicious flavour of the South
African venison. But the days of the enormous herds which once abounded
in these regions are gone. They have been either exterminated by the
Boers, or been driven far northward, into the interior of Africa,
together with the lions and elephants, over whose former habitation I
was travelling. There are still a good many koodoos, and h